


Coffee for Two

by bskiss



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Coffee Shop Employee Seungkwan, Fluff, M/M, Seoksoon if you squint, Seungcheol Studies Law, Seungcheol thinks he's straight until he meets Seungkwan, Seungkwan is honestly such a twink and wears pastel and i am living, Sunshine!Seungkwan, Swearing, uhh I love 2seung
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-23
Updated: 2016-08-23
Packaged: 2018-08-10 12:04:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7844188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bskiss/pseuds/bskiss
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Seungcheol is broke as hell and sure that he is going to fail his exams, but that still doesn't stop him from visiting the nearby cafe at 11 pm at night.  Coincidentally, the guy who works there is pretty smart - and really cute too.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Coffee for Two

 

His heavy eye bags are prominent, carving themselves boldly onto his tired face. The deep purple colour makes Seuncheol look more than tired, his complexion verging on the term of ‘dead’. He manages to carry himself out onto the fresh air, immediately heading towards the café near to his rundown apartment – not only is he struggling physically but also financially. Starting university was definitely stressful, more stressful than he intended it to be and taking up the task of business as his degree certainly does not make the job any easier.

Though his pockets aren’t deep at all and Seungcheol is barely surviving on cheap ham sandwiches and tiny bottles of strawberry milk, he still manages to scrape a couple of coins from the hidden places of his apartment – e.g. behind his dusty old couch and even in dirty pairs of oversized denim jeans. With these hidden treasures, he pays for the only thing which is keeping him alive and (somewhat) sane during the exam season: coffee.

It’s around midnight when the bell attached to the door of the small café rings. It’s the only shop open in a 5 mile radius and Seungcheol is thanking whatever God is out there that the exact coffee shop he is standing inside is the one. He is greeted with a blast of warm air, surrounding him in a blanket of comfort, creating a deep contrast to the weather outside which is mind-bogglingly cold. The sky is pitch black, not a single star is in sight, but the orange glow of the café distracts Seungcheol into a cosy corner.

He flops on the couch, examining the new environment. There is a chalkboard cutely positioned by his side, suggesting all the day’s specials and offers – what’s even cuter is the little doodles drawn by most of the listings. After a few minutes, he decides on his saviour; a large Americano with extra shots of coffee – he’s going to need it. He doesn’t even bother to glance up as he asks for his order in a monotone voice.

“Exams, huh?” the boy behind the countertop asks in a curious tone.

“You got that right,” Seungcheol manages a smile whilst looking up to examine the boy behind the cheery voice. His eyes are met with a boy seemingly younger than him, with large pouty lips and permanently stained cheeks. His hair is riddled with twists and turns, spilling cute messy curls all over his forehead. Seungcheol wonders how someone can be so happy at a time of havoc and most-commonly known as, a time for sleep. His mouth envelopes into a smile vicariously as he receives his steaming cup and saunters back into the corner he had claimed earlier on.

Not a single person is in the café (apart from sunshine-boy at the counter), putting Seungcheol at ease – this means he can bury his face in his textbooks and (possibly) start sobbing hysterically without being critiqued too harshly.

 

A few more coffees later and a few more hours followed, Seungcheol lays on the comfy couch, locked in a deep sleep – he even lets a couple snores escape his mouth. It is not pitch black outside anymore, but a deep yellow, engulfing the streets and early-morning people in a soft glow.

Illuminated in the sun’s path, Seungkwan squints his eyes at the odd figure before him. His shift ends at 6am and it is exactly 10 minutes until he has to head home and dump himself into a well-deserved sleep. Conveniently, the café also closes at 6am and opens at 2pm (the shifts are strange but Seungkwan doesn’t complain – he get some good money for just cleaning and rounding up a few orders). He’s not sure who the tall guy spread out on the couch is but he sure does know one thing – he’s going to have to get him moving in under 5 minutes. The older boy’s hair is sticking up in strange directions, much like a hairstyle a boy in middle school would sport after the new-found discovery of hair gel and Seungkwan can’t help but giggle at the sight.

9 minutes to go and Seungkwan is pondering on what strategy to use; there is the most-common shouting method, the gentle shake, or the relentless poke. He decides on the latter and to his surprise, it is very effective. The boy snaps his eyes open, disorientated and confused as of his surroundings and company. He blinks a couple of times and takes a stand, startling the poor boy in charge of the register.

“What time is it?” he haphazardly walks towards the coffee-table seated by his side and attempts to stuff his fallen belongings into the tattered leather bag he had brought with him.

“5:55,” Seungkwan glances at his wrist though he has already been counting down the minutes, “and this shop closes at 6 so you might want to hurry out.”

“Shit shit shit shit shit,” Seungcheol is awakened by the statement. He eagerly dumps the remaining books into his bag whilst doing his best to tumble out of the door.

“Thank you for visiting,” the (still) cheery boy chants behind Seungcheol. “Good luck!”

Seungcheol doesn’t even bother to reply as he heads home. He doesn’t have time to get dressed and he merely dedicates a few minutes to brush his teeth and run a hand through his crazy hair. He instantly heads straight to the bus stop a few minutes away from his apartment, praying that he isn’t late for the bus which directs him to his university. He makes a run for it, and a few minutes later, the bus arrives.

He scowls all the way through the one hour journey, mentally kicking himself already at the bad scores he’s going to earn on his exam and how badly his reputation is going to degrade. One thing is for sure; he will definitely be demanding for an extra shot of syrup on his next order.

 

♡。°。°。

 

“This one’s on the house,” the boy behind the counter announces to a frantic Seungcheol. “It honestly looks like you really need it,”

“Thanks, man,” Seungcheol beams at the worker. There’s something about him that makes Seungcheol smile; it might be the fact that he’s always wearing pastel colours, or maybe the slight tint in his cheeks that form when Seungcheol walks into the café at such a late time.

It’s Seungcheol’s 4th time in the quaint shop and every single night he comes inside, he always does the same thing – drinks around 3 cups of coffee and studies mercilessly (at some points he even rips some pages out in frustration). He slouches over to the corner like he always does, free-coffee in hand, and begins to empty out his textbooks from his even more tattered backpack – he doesn’t have the time or money to invest on a new one, plus carrying this many books is bound to break it at some point, not to mention he is beginning to assort a dull pain on his back due to the heavy weight.

One hour in and Seungcheol is already ripping pages out without a flying fuck. _Who cares if I fail maths? I don’t have to be good at maths to run a business, do I? Oh shit, maybe I do. Fuck it, Mr Chae can suck my ass, it’s his fault for being just a bad teacher._

“Are you having some trouble there?” a voice snaps Seungcheol out of his thoughts (which is probably for the best considering how he was going to plot Mr Chae’s murder).

Seungcheol looks up at the boy who is normally fiddling on his phone behind the counter. His brows are knitted into a frown and he honestly does look concerned for Seungcheol’s well-being which is pretty understandable as the café’s floor is covered in pages of his textbooks.

The older scratches his head, “Um, yeah actually,” he sighs, “I completely don’t get any of the shit that’s on my test tomorrow and I need at least a C to get a good job and _man_ , do I need a job,”

“Oh,” the boy with curls regrets asking, “I could help if you want? I’m not too bad at, “ the boy examines the floor, “calculus?”

“Yeah, calculus,” Seungcheol picks up the papers on the floor, embarrassed of the mess he’s created.

“Can I sit?” the boy doesn’t bother for an answer and has already planted himself next to Seungcheol, who in fact is wondering if the cheery boy can even help him with his studies considering the fact that he looks at least 2 years younger.

The boy in the pastel-pink sweater picks at Seungcheol’s scraps and notes, examining the text and instantly grinning up at the older. “Yeah, I went over this last semester, I got 98% so I think you can trust me to explain it to you,”

Seungcheol is beyond shocked – and grateful too. He can’t even imagine a 30% on his calculus test, yet alone 98. How did the little guy do it?

“98? Holy shit man, pass on some of your knowledge! Teach me your ways senp-“ Seungcheol covers his mouth to stop the last bit of his sentence from coming out. “That was sarcastic, I swear,”

The other boy can’t help from laughing – his eyes crinkle in an adorable way and his nose scrunches up and Seungcheol can’t help to think how cute he looks. Hell, Seungcheol is willing to give up his “chill” reputation in order to make him laugh.

“I have this friend who’s totally into anime, he’s even tried to dye his hair yellow to look like that guy from Dragon Ball Z,” he snorts thinking about Jisoo, “his hair turned orange instead and he looks like Chucky, I’m not even kidding,” the boy next to him is wheezing by now. No one’s ever laughed at Seungcheol’s stories this much and just hearing the other’s breathy laugh makes him want to continue.

A few hours pass by and Seungcheol has learnt that the boy working at the café is called Seungkwan and that he’s _extremely_ funny and loud. As he teaches Seungcheol a thing or two (or the whole course) about calculus, he slips in a few random stories of his friend Seokmin, he tells him about random moments he’s embarrassed himself and things he’s accidentally done.

“I accidentally watched all of the High School Musical movies yesterday,” Seungkwan begins as Seungcheol writes down some equations in his book. He looks up to Seungkwan and smirks at his sudden confession.

“Yeah, _accidentally_ ,” he laughs at the younger.

“I swear! I clicked on it by luck and honestly, Troy Bolton is so hot I had to watch the 2nd since the thumbnail was him shirtless,” he explains, a blush forming onto his full cheeks, “and then I had already watched 1 and 2 so I had to watch the last one!”

“Right, okay, okay, I get it,” Seungcheol laughs, “ _accidentally,_ ”

“Shut up and finish the equation, Seungcheol,” Seungkwan puffs his cheeks and Seungcheol plasters an offended look.

“Huh? What was that? _Seungcheol_?” Seungcheol widens his eyes comically, “Have you not been taught to respect your elders?”

“Sorry,” Seungkwan pouts, “I’ll rephrase it: shut up, Seungcheol- _hyung,_ ” he ends with a laugh.

 

♡。°。°。

 

Seungcheol arrives early at university and even waves hello to Jeonghan and Jisoo, his classmates. They both have questioning looks on their faces since Seungcheol has not been a morning person since exams started and they even have the audacity to ask if he got laid due to how out of character and happy Seungcheol is. _Wow, I hate my friends_ Seungcheol thinks as he sits down to take the exam he had spent so much time studying for – which is only like, 7 hours max but that’s the most he’s done in all his life.

He leaves to catch the bus feeling quite surprised with himself; some of the exams questions were definitely impossible to answer and a gift from devil himself but somehow he knew the answers to at least half of the test which is by far, the best he’s done in the 5 days of exams he’s had.

He sits on the bus for an hour, sitting in a pool of his own sweat. The sky hasn’t got a single cloud in sight and the sun is blaring down into the trapped passengers. All the windows are open and yet, Seungcheol can only see faces of pure agony plastered onto the people sitting around him, much like his own. After what seems like eternity, he finally reaches his stop and doesn’t hesitate to tumble out of the crowded vehicle, desperate to get away from the human oven. It’s around 1pm since he only had to go to university to take the hour long test – the teachers waved the students off immediately after, obviously desperate to enjoy the only free time that they rarely get as they work for the under-paying government. Seungcheol had wanted to become a teacher at some point in his high school life but the news on the badly paid wages and unimaginable working hours completely put him off and instead, he opted for a job that could earn him a lot of money – becoming a lawyer. Though the job itself doesn’t appeal to him very much and he’d rather be studying music since he’s so passionate about it, his current economical position is in no way available for him to spend his time learning stuff that won’t create the great income that he in search for.

He’s memorised Seungkwan’s working schedule by now, it’s pretty easy since he doesn’t work from 6am to 2pm and he has the days off on the weekends. Today’s a Friday and he wants to pop in to the shop to thank Seungkwan for the help he received the previous night, but the bus journey has left him sweating beyond his imagination and ability. Seungcheol has always been a person to care about his appearance so instead of going straight to the café, he heads to his apartment to have a quick shower and spend some time on his hair – he insists that he’s not trying to impress the younger but in reality…he is.

After a few sprits of body spray, he heads out of his clumsy apartment wearing some black jeans and a striped shirt, he even manages to dig out a pair of _clean_ white converse hidden deep inside the mounds of clothes littered on his bedroom/living room floor (he has a sofa-bed in the middle of the room and it certainly may not be the most comfortable but it’s definitely better than the squeaky mattress that he had 3 months ago.)

It’s 2pm exactly by the times he sets foot into the small coffee place. It’s strange appearing at such an early time and everything looks brighter and more appealing than it does at 11pm at night; the light coming in from the curtains accentuates the bright pastel colours littered everywhere in the small shop and Seungcheol doesn’t doubt for a moment that the interior was probably influenced by Seungkwan in some form.

Seungkwan sees Seungcheol coming his way, with a wide grin spread onto his _extremely_ handsome face – like, wow, Seungkwan is friends with Kim Mingyu and even he can’t be this manly and good looking. Seungcheol’s hair is messy and black as he makes his way to the flushing Seungkwan, making Seungkwan choke on his spit, _I should’ve worn something not pastel I look like such a twink, look at him wearing all black! He looks so fucking good choke m-_

“Hi,” the tall boy snaps Seungkwan out of his fantasies.

“Uh, Seungcheol,” the pastel boys replies. “What are you doing here?”

“I kinda wanted to talk to you…” Seungcheol says, his face getting hotter, “And I was thirsty – it’s so hot outside,”

Seungkwan messes with his fringe, twisting the curls around his forehead with his index finger as his ears go red – why does this always happen when Seungcheol’s around? “What can I get you?”

Seungcheol finds some bold courage hidden deep within himself, the kind that he uses to get girls in bed, “A date?”

Seungkwan chokes. He’s caught by surprise and his face is beyond flushed that Seungcheol can’t help but laugh at the sight.

“I’m kidding, relax,” he laughs. “An iced coffee is good too,”

Seungkwan can’t look him in the eye; his little crush has blossomed to affect his stomach and heart (which is profusely out of control), not to mention the large flowers growing behind his throat making it impossible to even repeat the order that the dark-haired older had asked for.

He hands over the cold cup a minute later and Seungcheol’s hand lingers on his for a little too long before taking the beverage away. “Thanks, by the way,” Seungcheol smiles.

“For what?”

“Yesterday – I totally would’ve flunked my test today if it wasn’t for you. I also kinda got most of the questions,” Seungkwan’s face beams at the revelation, his normal cheery self is ignited once again.

“No problem,” Seungkwan says as the door chimes and a customer walks in.

“I’ll get going then,” Seungkwan waves goodbye as he heads out the door, but not before examining the new person making a conversation with Seungkwan; his eyes are rich and brown and his hair is black, much like his own. He’s also a little bit taller than Seungcheol and even he has to admit, he is pretty damn hot. A spark of jealousy runs through his veins as Seungkwan smiles at the stranger and he doubts for a minute if he really was joking about asking Seungkwan out on a date, he figures it’s best to get out of the situation before the pastel guy turns Seungcheol into a flaming homosexual.

 

♡。°。°。

 

Exam week is sooner than expected and the dreaded day of the results has turned a corner. By the end of the week, all the students looked like zombies, breathing and exhaling mathematical equations and words too pretentious to ever use in ordinary life. Even Seokmin and Soonyoung (the class’ happy viruses) were dragging themselves out of the classroom and slumping on their shared bed on the last day of exams and _that_ was saying something.

Seungcheol is sitting in his bed/sofa, flipping through an old book when the sound of the letter box snaps clear and loud through the musky air of his apartment – signalling that a letter has arrived. But it’s not just any letter – it’s a letter determining his future; whether he ends up working at McDonalds for the rest of his life or if he actually gets a decent job which then turns into something he likes.

He bolts to the door and handles the letter like a new-born baby – it might as well be the only baby he ever has considering how _gay_ he’s found he is.

**Literature – _C_**

**Language – _B_**

**Maths – _C_**

**Government and Politics – _B_**

**_He did it._** _He got everything higher than a D which he was_ not _expecting._ He calls his parents to tell them the great news and then heads out to get some pizza with his friends, Jeonghan, Jisoo, Hansol, Seokmin and Soonyoung. The six head out to do some karaoke after having way too much pizza to celebrate all of their successes and by the time Seungcheol returns home, it’s already beyond 1am. His head is tingling from the couple of beers he drank but apart from that, he still has some adrenaline left in him to pay a visit to his friend/high-key crush.

He grabs the letter on the dirty counter-top with the intention of thanking Seungkwan and maybe even confessing his new attraction which is even a shock to himself. He heads straight to the place which has become his 2nd home in the past two weeks (he’s been going there for the week after exams just to visit Seungkwan when he’s lonely at 11pm).

He arrives at 1:50am, his breathing is heavy and loud and he can feel his lungs fill with the distinct smell of coffee with every pant he takes. Seungkwan is closing and opening his eyes cutely as he doesn’t let sleep wash over him during his shift but the accustomed bell rings clear, snapping his sleepy eyes awake.

“Seungkwan!” Seungcheol’s voice booms in the quiet space and Seungkwan smiles at the sight of Seungcheol’s grinning mouth.

“I thought you weren’t coming today,” the other lets out a chuckle before asking Seungcheol for his order.

“Two caramel coffees, please,” Seungcheol begins. “Oh and make one with whipped cream on top – don’t forget to sprinkle some chocolate on there.”

Seungkwan’s face falls, “For your girlfriend?” he asks.

“No actually,” the adrenaline is still racing through Seungcheol’s body. “For my boyfriend,”

“Ah,” Seungkwan can barely hide the disappointed look as he makes the order for the taken male.

“Here,” he hands the two cups to a grinning Seungcheol. _Was it just me? I swear he was sending me signals all throughout the week…_

The black-haired boy swiftly takes the coffee without the whipped cream.

“Uh, here’s the on for you boyfriend,” he attempts to hand Seungcheol the other cup but he dodges it.

“Yeah,” Seungcheol scratches the back of his head in embarrassment, “it is.”

“Oh,” Seungkwan’s face reddens immediately, his grip tightening on the cup in his hand.

“Uh – do you have some free time? I’m super thankful towards you since I passed all my exams, and the past 2 weeks have been the best even though all we’ve really talked to is about how stupid I am and how stupid the things you do are.  I mean, I haven’t really met you outside of the shop and I know it’s way too late to do anything but we could head over to my apartment and like, talk, you know? If that okay with you I mean, I don’t wanna force you to be my boyfriend if you don’t want to but you’ve completely switched my orientation and you’re so cute and I just wann-“ Seungcheol is all over the place whilst revealing his confession.

“Yeah,” Seungkwan interrupts the nervous older. “That sounds good,” he is smiling and glowing nearly as bright as the moon which is dangling high above the horizon.

“Um, so,” Seungcheol smiles awkwardly. “When are you free?”

“My shift ends in 5 minutes,”

“I know.”

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> 2seung is super lacking in ao3 and i figured that if no one was going to quench my need for more fics, i might as well make my own!!  
> the dynamics of this ship are so nice and i honestly really liked writing this fic. i started it a long time ago when i was watching Cheese in the Trap and was inspired by Ep 1!!  
> i really hoped you liked this story and thank you for taking your time to read it?!
> 
> kudos & comments r always appreciated x


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